Diners shocked into wasting less food

A Swiss hotel is displaying a series of confronting images to restaurant guests in an effort to reduce food waste by diners.

The Hotel Monopol in Lurcerne, Switzerland has taken the fairly extreme approach of showing photographs of starving children to effectively shock the hotel’s patrons into filling their plates with no more than they can eat.

The attention grabbing photographs are accompanied with a message, written in both English and Chinese, at the restaurant’s tables.

“Good morning, dear guests. For ethical and moral reasons, in Switzerland we do not throw away any food. Please put on your plate only what you do eat. Thank you for your understanding,” the message reads.

According to a Daily Mail report, Hotel Metropol hotel manager, Brigette Heller said the hotel created the dramatic approach because it was felt they could no longer ignore the vast food waste from diners.

“Seeing how much food is thrown away on a daily basis hurts me on an ethical level,” said Heller.

“We have introduced the sign to make people aware, we are showing pictures of children who are starving to death.”

Since initiating the images and messages, the Hotel Monopol says the feedback from diners has largely been positive.

“I am not worried if it will offend foreign tourists. I am trying to make a difference, I cannot change the whole world, but this is a start,” added Heller.

As well as the mostly positive reaction from diners, the Hotel Monopol has reported the best result of all – food waste has gone down.